The Full Belmonte, 12/27/2022
George Santos Admits to Lying About College and Work History
The congressman-elect told The New York Post that he had not graduated from college or worked at two major Wall Street companies, as he had previously claimed.
Representative-elect George Santos admitted on Monday to misleading voters about his professional experience and educational history, confirming some of the key findings of a New York Times investigation that found he likely misrepresented his background to voters.
Mr. Santos, a Republican who was elected in November to represent parts of northern Long Island and northeast Queens, ended a week of near silence, giving interviews to two conservative-owned media outlets, The New York Post and WABC-AM radio.
Mr. Santos told The Post that even though he now admits to embellishing his résumé, it would not stop him from taking office.
‘I am not a criminal,’ Mr. Santos told The Post, adding he would still be an effective legislator. He told WABC radio that he still intended to be sworn in at the start of the next Congress.
Mr. Santos, through representatives, has declined multiple requests to speak with The Times or to directly address the questions raised by its reporting.
Over the course of his campaigns, Mr. Santos claimed to have graduated from Baruch College in 2010 before working at Citigroup and, eventually, Goldman Sachs. But representatives from the college and both companies said they could not locate records to confirm his graduation or employment.
In Monday’s interview, Mr. Santos admitted to The Post that he had not graduated from Baruch, nor had he graduated “from any institution of higher learning.”
Mr. Santos also said that he never worked directly for Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, even though he said in campaign biographies that he had worked directly for both companies, as he made his case to voters that he was a seasoned investor and financial professional.
Instead, he said, he dealt with both firms through his work at another company, LinkBridge Investors, which connects investors with potential clients.
Mr. Santos told The Post that LinkBridge had ‘limited partnerships’ with the two Wall Street companies.
The Times was able to confirm Mr. Santos’s employment at LinkBridge. But in a version of his campaign biography posted as recently as April, Mr. Santos suggested that he had started his career on Wall Street at Citigroup and that he was at Goldman Sachs briefly before his time at LinkBridge.
Representatives for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup did not immediately respond to a request for comment.” Read more at New York Times
China to Open Borders as Covid-19 Cases Rise
Beijing plans to drop quarantine rule for incoming travelers, its latest policy softening
Chaoyang Hospital’s emergency room in Beijing has been swamped with patients after China ended its zero-Covid-19 policy this month. PHOTO: JONATHAN CHENG / THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“BEIJING—Chinese health authorities plan to lift Covid-19 quarantine requirements on international arrivals early next month, taking one of the country’s biggest steps to ease restrictions since the pandemic began even as case numbers remain high.
China has maintained among the world’s most restrictive coronavirus lockdown measures, slowing its economy significantly and sparking anger. Following waves of protests this fall, authorities abruptly abandoned the country’s stringent zero-Covid-19 strategy early this month.
From Jan. 8, China will scrap all quarantine measures for Covid-19, including requirements for inbound visitors, both foreigners and Chinese nationals, according to the National Health Commission.
The commission late Monday issued a plan to stop treating Covid-19 as a “Class A” infectious disease, which calls for stringent control measures, and downgrade the management of the virus to “Class B,” which requires more basic treatment and prevention. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that China was weighing such a move, which would give it room to further loosen public-health measures.
The change means people traveling to China from abroad will need to have only a negative Covid-19 test within 48 hours to be allowed into the country, the NHC said. International arrivals will no longer be required to be tested on arrival or undergo quarantine—a major step toward opening up for a country that has been largely closed off to the outside world for three years.
The commission in its statement pledged to facilitate foreigners’ visits to China, including those for business, studying and family reunions, and to provide visa assistance.
The shift came as fever clinics and hospital emergency rooms in Beijing continued to overflow with patients on Monday and Chinese leader Xi Jinping called on local officials to take pains to save lives.
Before Monday’s loosening of Covid restrictions, Mr. Xi addressed his country’s new pandemic reality for the first time in comments marking the 70th anniversary of the Patriotic Health Movement, a campaign to wipe out flies and mosquitoes launched by Mao Zedong during the Korean War to fortify China against the possibility of American germ warfare.
‘At present, our country’s Covid prevention and control efforts are facing new circumstances and a new mission,’ Mr. Xi said. China should launch ‘a more targeted Patriotic Health Movement’ to ‘effectively guarantee the lives and health of the people.’
Visits to three major hospitals in Beijing by the Journal on Monday showed the capital’s healthcare system still swamped with an influx of patients following the government’s about-face on Covid-19 controls, which has left many citizens, especially the elderly, scrambling to find treatment….” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Air Base Kills Three, Moscow Says
Strike on military target deep inside Russia is a reminder to the Kremlin that it must devote resources to protecting its home front
Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk province of Ukraine where heavy fighting continues.PHOTO: CLODAGH KILCOYNE/REUTERS
“LVIV, Ukraine—Three Russian service members were killed during a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian military air base, Moscow said, the latest apparent demonstration of Kyiv’s ability to strike military targets inside Russia.
The strike at the Engels air base in Saratov region, a hub for Russia’s strategic bombers, is the second this month. Although small, it still offered a reminder to Moscow that even forces deep inside its territory can be hit, forcing the Kremlin to redirect resources and leaders’ attention.
The attack also reflects a battle raging far from the war’s front lines. Russia is launching missiles and drones to try to degrade Ukraine’s infrastructure, particularly its power grid, to sap the morale of Ukrainian civilians. At the same time, apparent Ukrainian attacks are targeting Russia’s ability to carry out those strikes.
Kyiv didn’t immediately comment on the incident. Ukraine typically doesn’t publicly claim responsibility for attacks in Russia.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Thousands of Canceled Flights Cap Holiday Weekend of Travel Nightmares
Southwest Airlines, which canceled nearly 70 percent of its flights, was the airline most affected on Monday.
“Thousands of travelers were stranded at U.S. airports on Monday as a wave of canceled flights — many of them operated by Southwest Airlines — spoiled holiday plans and kept families from returning home during one of the busiest and most stressful travel stretches of the year.
The cancellations and delays one day after Christmas left people sleeping on airport floors, standing in hourslong customer service lines and waiting on tarmacs for hours on end.
The problems are likely to continue into Tuesday and later this week. As of Monday night, more than 1,700 U.S. flights scheduled for Tuesday were already canceled, including 40 percent of all Southwest flights.” Read more at New York Times
The 10 biggest surprises in the fight for marriage equality in 2022
Between tiny countries in Europe, long-awaited changes in Mexico and events in our own backyard, it’s been a big year when it comes to the push for same-sex marriage
“Although there were some notable setbacks for LGBTQ2S+ rights around the world, 2022 actually turned out to be a banner year in the fight for the right to same-sex marriage, with significant progress to be celebrated in all corners of the world. Some of these developments have been years in the making, while others turned out to be genuine surprises. Read on to see how far we’ve come in 2022 and where we may see even bigger victories in 2023.
1. SCOTUS threatens same-sex marriage
The United States Supreme Court’s bombshell Dobbs decision in June not only took away the right of Americans to abortion, it also contained an opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas calling into question a whole host of other privacy and due-process rights long recognized by the courts, including the right to consensual sodomy and the right to same-sex marriage. Though Thomas’s opinion was not signed by any other judge, it has suitably spooked LGBTQ2S+ Americans.
Luckily, it also spurred some legislators into action on LGBTQ2S+ rights. The U.S. Congress was finally able to pass the Respect for Marriage Act, a law that repeals the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act and requires all U.S. states and territories to recognize legal same-sex marriages (even if it doesn’t compel them to perform them). The law is also notable for also extending marriage recognition for the first time to American Samoa, a small U.S. territory in the South Pacific that has thus far resisted applying the right to same-sex marriage in its local law.
Additionally, state-level legislators are pushing for greater LGBTQ2S+ legal protections in the wake of the Dobbs decision. Legislators in California, Colorado, Michigan, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Alaska have announced plans to attempt to repeal currently defunct statutes and constitutional provisions that ban same-sex marriage. (Legislators in Massachusetts, Maryland and Michigan will also be pushing to repeal archaic laws that ban gay sex.) They’re being buoyed by election victories that gave Democrats control of legislatures in Alaska, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota.
2. Mexico completes marriage equality in the country
Mexico’s long ride to full marriage equality finally came to a head in 2022—13 years after the capital Mexico City became the first place in the country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2009. Under Mexico’s federal structure, each state had to legalize same-sex marriage on its own, even after the Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. The states have been slowly coming around, and in 2022, the last seven holdouts—Yucatán, Veracruz, Durango, the state of Mexico, Tabasco, Guerrero and Tamaulipas—all amended their civil codes to make marriage gender-neutral.
And that wasn’t all. The federal senate passed a bill to ban conversion therapy, while the states of Jalisco, Baja California, Hidalgo and Puebla all passed their own local bans. Also, the states of Quintana Roo and Baja California Sur fully legalized same-sex couple adoption, while Sinaloa passed a gender identity law.
3. Cuba affirms equal marriage by referendum
Cuban LGBTQ+ activists celebrated a victory in their decade-long fight for equal marriage this fall as the Cuban people voted in a national referendum to pass a new Family Code that included equal marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples. The referendum passed with just over two-thirds support.
Long supported by Mariela Castro, the daughter of former president Raúl Castro, Cuban LGBTQ+ activists had been calling for equal marriage and had hoped it would be incorporated in a series of political and legal reforms that were promoted by President Miguel Díaz-Canel over the past several years. Initially disappointed that equal marriage was dropped from a proposed 2019 constitutional reform, and then that the new family code was ultimately the only one of the major law reform proposals sent to a public vote, activists can celebrate the results.
4. Small European states make a big push for equality
Slovenia may not be quite a microstate, but the former Yugoslav nation of 2 million landed a victory for equality in July, when its Constitutional Court ruled that laws barring same-sex couples from marriage and adoption were unconstitutional. That reversed the course of a 2015 decision, which allowed a referendum to go forward undoing an equal marriage law that the parliament had passed that year. In that referendum, voters rejected same-sex marriage 63 percent to 36 percent. This time, the government welcomed the court’s decision and quickly codified it into law. The decision made Slovenia the first Slavic and first post-communist country to legalize same-sex marriage.
The tiny principality of Andorra, home to 77,000 people sandwiched between France and Spain, passed an update to its Family Law that both allowed trans people to self-identify their gender, and gave same-sex couples the right to marry. Or did they? A semantic debate over whether the bill actually created equal marriage held it up for more than a year before it finally passed. The issue at hand is that the bill generally calls religious marriage “matrimoni,” but it calls same-sex marriages “casamentes,” which it defines as a type of “matrimoni.” Confusingly, both terms translate from Catalan to English as “marriage.” Although the distinction persisted in the final bill, the political opposition has filed a case with the Constitutional Court seeking to eliminate it.
Meanwhile, in the even tinier Alpine nation of Liechtenstein, lawmakers voted 23-2 on a motion calling on the government to introduce same-sex marriage. Previously, the prince of Liechtenstein (who can veto legislation) had said his only objection to same-sex marriage would be that it would open the door to adoption—but a Constitutional Court ruling earlier this year has already made adoption by same-sex couples legal, so the point is now moot. If the government goes along with Parliament’s request, expect a bill to come forward sometime in the spring.
5. U.K. court strikes down same-sex marriage in Bermuda and Cayman
Not all of the surprises this year were good ones. In March, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled against same-sex marriage in separate cases from Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, two of the U.K.’s remaining overseas territories. In Bermuda’s case, equal marriage had already been the law of the land for nearly four years before the decision, marking a major reversal of rights. Both territories now only offer civil unions to their queer citizens.
Undeterred, activists are continuing to push for equal marriage rights in all British territories. A case seeking same-sex marriage in the British Virgin Islands is currently being heard at the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, and one of the U.K.’s unelected lords has introduced a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in all remaining U.K. territories, including Anguilla, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos.
6. Singapore decriminalizes sodomy, but bans same-sex marriage
Singapore delivered a mixed bag of progress for its queer citizens. In February, its Court of Appeal ruled that because the government had a stated policy of not enforcing its colonial-era law banning gay sex, no one could be prosecuted under it. However, the court also ruled that the government had the right to rescind that policy at will. It was a baby step from a court that had three times in the previous decade ruled against petitions seeking to have the law struck.
As domestic and international pressure mounted, the government finally reversed its own position on the sodomy law in August, and announced that it would repeal it, with a caveat: the government would also amend the constitution to clarify there’s no right to same-sex marriage. The government kept its word and passed both initiatives in November. While it seems like one step forward and another back, there’s actually much to celebrate here. The government didn’t ban same-sex marriage in the constitution; it merely removed the power of the courts to impose it—and the courts didn’t seem very amenable to pushing queer rights anyway. If marriage is the next goal, queer Singaporeans will simply have to convince a majority of legislators to pass it into law.
Singapore wasn’t the only country to decriminalize gay sex in 2022. Over the summer, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court issued separate rulings decriminalizing sodomy in Antigua and Barbuda and in St. Kitts and Nevis. The decisions came as queer activists in the region launched coordinated challenges against sodomy laws in eight countries across the region, all former British colonies like Singapore. At least five more decisions in sodomy cases from the Caribbean are expected in 2023.
7. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy supports equal marriage
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been the most consequential geopolitical development of 2022, but it’s also had a noticeable effect on LGBTQ+ rights in the region. LGBTQ+ soldiers are serving openly in the Ukrainian armed forces, proudly wearing unicorn badges representing their identity. The bravery of these soldiers has earned queer Ukrainians a new respect among their compatriots.
In June, an official petition was launched calling for the introduction of marriage equality in Ukraine, specifically to address the fact that without official relationship recognition, the partners of queer soldiers who are killed in action defending their homeland may never be notified and could lose access to their joint property. Surprisingly, as the petition gained traction, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced his support—but acknowledged that under the state of war, it was impossible to amend the constitution to allow it. As an interim measure, he directed his government to draft a civil partnership law, though it has yet to be introduced.
The war’s impact on LGBTQ+ rights could very well extend beyond Ukraine. Western-aligned states have drawn closer together, strengthening institutions like the European Union, which have traditionally advocated for queer rights in member states. And Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia have all formally applied to become members, which will require all three to improve their human rights records. On the other hand, Russia itself has cracked down harder on queer and trans people within its borders and in the territories it has illegally annexed from Ukraine.
8. Japan’s courts can’t decide on same-sex marriage
Lawsuits seeking equal access to marriage for same-sex marriage have been working their way through several district courts since 13 couples made coordinated filings on Valentine’s Day 2019. Last year, the district court in Sapporo ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, although it left it up to the government to remedy the situation. This year, district courts in Osaka and Tokyo ruled the ban was constitutional, though the Tokyo court also ruled that the lack of an alternative to marriage for same-sex couples was unconstitutional discrimination. Additional cases are still to be decided in two other regional courts.
In the meantime, Japanese cities and prefectures continued to expand the use of same-sex partnership certificates, documents of limited legal recognition that nonetheless give partners access to certain government services. More than half of Japan now lives in a jurisdiction that issues partnership certificates. Still, the national government remains deeply conservative and has thus far refused to address LGBTQ+ rights generally.
9. India’s Supreme Court takes on equal marriage case
In late November, India’s Supreme Court announced it was taking on several cases seeking to legalize same-sex marriage under the country’s secular Special Marriage Act. The court gave the government four weeks to respond to the petition, which is currently in process at press time.
Queer and trans activists have been buoyed by a series of recent judgments from the court, beginning in 2016, when the court found that the constitution includes a right to privacy. Even in that decision, justices predicted that the consequences of that finding would lead to the decriminalization of sodomy (which the court did in 2018) and eventually same-sex marriage. What’s more, the recently appointed chief justice of the court has been known to support queer rights.
If the court does legalize same-sex marriage next year, India would become by far the largest country by population to do so. It would also mark the shortest amount of time between a country decriminalizing sodomy and legalizing same-sex marriage—the previous record-holder was South Africa, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2006, eight years after it decriminalized sodomy.
10. Thai lawmakers defy their military government and push for equal marriage
Thailand has long had a reputation for tolerance of queer people, but its government—currently a quasi-junta ruled by the military with the veneer of an elected parliament—has long resisted calls for full equal marriage. This year, the government proposed a Civil Partnerships Bill that would give same-sex couples access to certain limited rights, but the rest of Parliament was not content with half measures. Although it ultimately advanced the partnership bill, it also advanced two other bills proposed by the opposition that would legalize full equal marriage. All of the bills are currently in the committee stage, and it’s unclear if they will pass before Parliament is dissolved ahead of May elections. But the increasingly defiant Parliament has already managed to push through other progressive reforms this year, and this is the farthest an equal marriage bill has progressed in any southeast Asian country.” Read more at Xtra
Restaurants are finally staffing up.
“The industry, which experienced among the biggest reductions in jobs and workers after the Covid-19 pandemic struck the U.S., has erased most of those losses. This past month, restaurants and bars had nearly doubled the number of employees working at the pandemic low in April 2020, according to the Labor Department. The past month alone, restaurants and bars added 62,000 jobs.
Restaurant owners and workers attribute the return to a combination of factors including pay increases, improving working conditions and fewer opportunities elsewhere as the economy weakens.
All but 2.1% of the 12.2 million food-service and drinking-establishment positions that existed in the U.S. in November 2019 had returned as of the past month, Labor Department data show. Restaurants, hotels and other leisure and hospitality employers have lagged behind the broader labor market, which in July added back the total number of jobs lost during the pandemic.
Many recent hires are returning to the restaurant industry after forsaking it earlier in the pandemic, when lockdowns and local mandates reduced shifts and incomes, and many workers were laid off, furloughed or quit amid increased uncertainty.
After lockdowns eased, demand roared back while employment was still down, leading to declining service ratings and incidents involving angry customers. As the experience of working in restaurants deteriorated, many people left the industry to find better, safer, higher-paying work.
Tortillas are made at Los Dos Potrillos, a Mexican restaurant near Denver. Restaurant owners say job applications have increased.
Since then, pay has risen and some employers have taken steps to make the jobs more appealing, including by expanding benefits and in some cases offering more flexible schedules than traditionally provided by restaurants. ‘There’s a lot more focus in the hospitality industry on the importance of workers,’ said Bob Szuter, co-owner of Wolf’s Ridge Brewing, a Columbus, Ohio, brewery with two full-service restaurants. ‘You’d be hard-pressed to find a lot of businesses now who say that the customer is always right.’
Restaurant owners say applications have increased and more prospects are showing up for their interviews rather than ghosting operators, as many did earlier in the pandemic….” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Oklahoma Has Become a Top Source of Black-Market Weed
After adopting permissive marijuana-growing policies, officials try to tighten rules in response to crime and complaints
“COYLE, Okla.—Finding marijuana crops in Oklahoma these days is easy, said Logan County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Tillman, as he stared at rows of cannabis greenhouses surrounded by fields of red-dirt farmland.
Figuring out if they are legal—well, that is another matter. ‘It’s not always clear what we should be looking for,’ Deputy Tillman said.
The Sooner State has become the biggest source of black-market weed in the country, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics estimated this month.
Drawn by cheap land, affordable licenses and light regulatory oversight, marijuana growers by the hundreds flocked to Oklahoma after the state began allowing commercial marijuana cultivation when it legalized the drug for medicinal purposes in 2018.
With no limit on how much marijuana the operations can grow or how big farms can be, output quickly ballooned well beyond what medical marijuana patients, roughly 10% of the state’s four million residents, would appear able to legally consume. The state has issued active licenses for about 7,000 growers and for roughly 2,600 dispensaries. Unlicensed or improperly licensed black-market operations are rampant, officials say.
It will be difficult to rein in Oklahoma’s marijuana industry, state officials acknowledge.PHOTO: SUE OGROCKI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
‘You don’t even have enough dispensaries in the state of Oklahoma to dispense as much marijuana as we’re producing,’ said Donnie Anderson, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. ‘That marijuana is gonna go somewhere and it’s going out of state.’ Moving marijuana across state lines is illegal under federal law.
Oklahoma officials are now trying to gain control of the exploding marijuana industry, amid violent crimes—including the execution-style murders of four people at a pot warehouse this past month—and residents’ complaints about skunk-like smells on an industrial scale.
Earlier this year Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, signed a measure into law that established a two-year moratorium on new medical-marijuana businesses. The state also launched a seed-to-sale tracking system with the hope of making it difficult for illegal growers to sell to dispensaries.
But some officials acknowledge it will be difficult to rein in an industry that has spread quickly and become embedded in many rural corners of the state.
In Logan County, north of Oklahoma City, Sheriff Damon Devereaux said criminals target farms, dispensaries and even the homes of those who work in the industry because operations are cash businesses. Because marijuana isn’t legal on a federal level, many banks won’t accept deposits associated with it. Security guards armed with assault rifles have become a fixture at some farms and his deputies often respond to robberies at the businesses, Sheriff Devereaux said.
‘It really is the Wild West,’ Sheriff Devereaux said. ‘I worry that what we’ve seen in Kingfisher County is just a small part of what’s to come….’” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Florida Restarts Push to Feed Manatees
Many of the aquatic mammals, classified as threatened, are still dying
A manatee is typically about 10 feet long and weighs more than 1,000 pounds.PHOTO: LYNNE SLADKY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Wildlife officials in Florida are relaunching a program to feed manatees in a coastal area where many congregate in the winter, part of efforts to address the aquatic mammals’ chronic malnutrition caused by the disappearance of seagrasses they feed on.
Manatee deaths remain at high levels, with 774 so far this year, according to state data. That figure puts deaths this year on track to be down from 2021’s record total of 1,101, but it is still higher than the average for the same period over the past five years. Causes of death include starvation, watercraft collisions and cold stress. Florida’s manatee population was estimated at 5,733 in 2019, the last year in which the state conducted a count.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared an unusual mortality event for manatees along Florida’s Atlantic coast last year—a designation that refers to a significant die-off that requires an immediate response. A key factor is the depletion of seagrasses because of poor water quality in the Indian River Lagoon, an estuary spanning 156 miles of Florida’s eastern coast that draws many manatees.
The situation highlights a broader problem with polluted waterways in Florida. Algal blooms have broken out in numerous areas in recent years, fueled by nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus from improperly treated sewage, leaking septic tanks and fertilizer runoff, according to researchers. The outbreaks pose a threat to Florida’s economy, which relies heavily on tourism in coastal areas.
Last winter, mainly January to March, state and federal wildlife officials provided over 202,000 pounds of romaine lettuce, butter lettuce and cabbage to manatees gathering in warm water discharged by a power plant on the Indian River Lagoon. Many of the mammals, which typically are about 10 feet long and weigh more than 1,000 pounds, seek refuge there when waters cool in winter.
Officials restarted the program, which they consider a temporary measure, earlier this month. They have distributed about 1,000 pounds of lettuce so far to a small number of manatees, said Michelle Pasawicz, on-site lead for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. More of the animals were expected to come with the arrival of a cold-weather front this weekend.
The condition of manatees appears to have improved a bit since last winter, with some recently observed animals in decent health, said Patrick Rose, executive director of the advocacy group Save the Manatee Club. But he said the challenges they face remain serious.
‘We’re a long way from recovering this ecosystem,’ Mr. Rose said.
Last month, his group and others filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urging the agency to reclassify manatees as endangered, reversing a decision to downgrade the animals to threatened in 2017. Given the unusual mortality event, water-quality problems and other issues, ‘the manatee is not on the path to recovery,’ said Ragan Whitlock, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, another advocacy group that joined the petition.
A Fish and Wildlife spokesman said, ‘Service staff will review the petition through our normal petition processes.’
In response to a lawsuit by some of the same groups, the agency agreed in June to revise what is known as the manatee’s critical habitat—areas with physical or biological features that are essential to the conservation of endangered or threatened species—by September 2024. That would help preserve more of their habitat, Mr. Whitlock said.
A separate lawsuit those groups filed in May against the Environmental Protection Agency sought to compel it to consult with other agencies to reassess water-quality criteria for the Indian River Lagoon. That litigation is pending.
Meanwhile, federal, state and local governments are working to improve the water quality and restore seagrass beds, said Ashley Evitt, media outreach manager for the St. Johns River Water Management District, which covers the northern part of the lagoon.
‘Sustained increases in sea grass will play out over time, but last summer’s surveys of sea grass were encouraging,’ she said.
The Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida, a nonprofit that is funding manatee-feeding efforts, also is committing more than $2 million to an initiative to plant vegetation in the lagoon, said spokeswoman Michelle Ashton. The organization has nine planting sites in the lagoon, she said….” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Whoopi Goldberg discusses past Holocaust comments, makes new controversial statements
Whoopi Goldberg is talking again about whether the Holocaust, which involved the murder of 6 million Jewish people, was racially motivated.
In a new interview with The Sunday Times of London, shared during Hanukkah, Goldberg suggested Jews are divided about whether they are a race, religion or both.
‘My best friend said, ‘Not for nothing is there no box on the census for the Jewish race. So that leads me to believe that we’re probably not a race,’’ she recalled.
When The Times journalist Janice Turner mentioned racially divisive laws set by Nazis aimed at Jews, "The View" cohost insisted that the Holocaust “wasn't originally" about "racial" or "physical" attributes.
"They were killing people they considered to be mentally defective. And then they made this decision," she said.
Turner continued to push back, telling Goldberg, "Nazis saw Jews as a race."
"Yes, but that’s the killer, isn’t it? The oppressor is telling you what you are. Why are you believing them? They’re Nazis. Why believe what they’re saying?" the "Till" actress responded.
Goldberg added, "It doesn’t change the fact that you could not tell a Jew on a street. You could find me. You couldn’t find them."
Whoopi Goldberg is talking again about whether the Holocaust, which involved the murder of 6 million Jewish people, was racially motivated.
In a new interview with The Sunday Times of London, shared during Hanukkah, Goldberg suggested Jews are divided about whether they are a race, religion or both.
"My best friend said, ‘Not for nothing is there no box on the census for the Jewish race. So that leads me to believe that we’re probably not a race,’ " she recalled.
When The Times journalist Janice Turner mentioned racially divisive laws set by Nazis aimed at Jews, "The View" cohost insisted that the Holocaust "wasn't originally" about "racial" or "physical" attributes.
"They were killing people they considered to be mentally defective. And then they made this decision," she said.
'The fear is real':Menorahs mean more this Hanukkah amid rising antisemitism
Turner continued to push back, telling Goldberg, "Nazis saw Jews as a race."
‘Yes, but that’s the killer, isn’t it? The oppressor is telling you what you are. Why are you believing them? They’re Nazis. Why believe what they’re saying?’ the "Till" actress responded.
Goldberg added, ‘It doesn’t change the fact that you could not tell a Jew on a street. You could find me. You couldn’t find them.’
The actress was previously suspended from "The View" in January for similar remarks. Addressing those comments, she said, "That was the point I was making. But you would have thought that I’d taken a big old stinky dump on the table, butt naked."
'I don't know how we survived':A new generation of antisemitism we thought was behind us
Goldberg's comments to The Times of London are being met with backlash. ‘This is one of the times where I think someone should force Whoopi Goldberg to go to a Holocaust museum and learn about the Nuremberg laws,’ video game director Luc Bernard wrote on Twitter….” Read more at USA Today
22 good things that happened in 2022
“1. Ukraine still stands. When Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in late February, he — and most everyone else — anticipated that the country would fall to Russian control in a matter of days. What few predicted was the power brought to bear by the spirit and tenacity of the Ukrainian people, who have fought valiantly for their nation and for democratic ideals for more than 10 months. They have repelled Russian invaders from much of their country. They have persisted through periods of no heat, water or electricity. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 44, adeptly rallied much of the world to send aid and weapons, and he was rightly named Time’s Person of the Year. The blue and yellow flag flies in Kyiv — and around the globe.
2. American voters rejected extreme candidates. An alarming number of GOP contenders for office this year openly denied the 2020 election results. Some had even participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. But voters across the country said ‘No, thank you’ to these candidates, especially in hotly contested statewide offices in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. Score one for the guardrails of the democratic system.
3. Gas prices are no longer at heart attack levels. Remember $5 gas? For much of June, that was the reality in United States, thanks largely to Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But gas prices have fallen steadily since the summer, as China’s consumption has cooled and many nations have pumped a little more oil. The average price is now around $3.10 — which is a tad lower than it was a year ago.
4. Lizzo played THAT flute. Musician extraordinaire Lizzo went viral for playing James Madison’s 1813 crystal flute. First she performed with it at the Library of Congress (at the library’s request). Then she tooted it briefly onstage at her D.C. concert in front of thousands of fans. Lizzo, a classically trained flutist, instantly reminded us of the magic of in-person events and the treasures of U.S. history.
5. “Jeopardy!” was on a hot streak. Let’s begin by answering with a question: Was something in the water on the “Jeopardy!” set this year? The game show suddenly had a slew of heartwarming trivia whizzes, who just kept winning and winning. Uber driver Ryan Long won 16 consecutive games. Operations manager Cris Pannullo won 21. Tutor Mattea Roach won 23. And, of course, writer and transgender rights activist Amy Schneider triumphed in 40 straight games to become the second-most-winning player ever (and then took home the Tournament of Champions prize). What was must-watch TV this year? That’s easy to answer.
6. Nathan “Quad King” Chen skated to redemption. The Beijing Winter Olympics were a largely censored and cringeworthy affair, but one of the standout moments was American Nathan Chen winning “redemption gold” in men’s figure skating. Four years earlier, Chen had a disastrous Olympics, but he didn’t give up. He put in the hard work and set a world record in the short program and landed five quad jumpsin the long one. Frankly, he made it look so effortless that many were ready to put on skates and try it — until, as Jimmy Fallon demonstrated, people realized these jumps are superhuman, even without the ice.
7. Metro finally lands at Dulles International Airport. For decades, D.C.-area residents and visitors dreamed of the day when they could ride by rail from downtown to Dulles Airport. So many other cities had something like this, why not the nation’s capital? It was considered a far-fetched idea when plans for the subway system were first being drawn up in the 1960s. Metro’s Silver Line extension was supposed to be completed in 2018. It finally became reality on Nov. 15. As Journey sings, “Don’t stop believin’.”
8. Pickleball is our new favorite pastime. It’s a cross between tennis and table tennis, with a little chess-like strategy thrown in. Pickleball exploded this year with kids, seniors and everyone in between. Who cares if it doesn’t offer a ton of exercise? After years of isolation, let’s embrace this game that gets our socialization and fun muscles moving again.
9. TikTok brought us “butter boards.” There were plenty of TikTok trends in 2022, but perhaps the most fun was the rise of the butter board, where people spread butter on a cutting board and spice it up by sprinkling on anything from garlic and pepper flakes to figs and oranges. Is it going to win culinary awards? Heck, no. But in a year when supply-chain glitches and skyrocketing inflation made it hard to find a lot of items on your grocery list, the butter board was all about encouraging us to make the best of whatever we had.
10. The world (mostly) averted a global food crisis. When Russia invaded Ukraine, one of the many tragedies that followed was a collapse of grain exports from Ukraine to developing nations in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Hundreds of millions of people were going hungry. Fortunately, the United Nations managed to broker a deal over the summer to get Ukraine’s grain on ships, and the U.S. government stepped up with more than $5 billion in food aid, including funds for the U.N. World Food Program. Additional donations poured in from many Americans. Parts of the world are still struggling, but quick intervention helped countless people.
11. We’re going back to the moon! NASA’s Artemis I moon mission was launched Nov. 16 and has sent back images so awesome you want to print them out and hang them on your wall. This is the first part of an initiative that aims to put humans on the lunar surface again. More than 20 countries are part of Artemis, a reminder that space exploration unites and tantalizes us all. Billionaires also kept boldly going into space in 2022. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has launched more than 50 rockets this year, a record for the company. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin completed its sixth crewed spaceflight in August, making space tourism a reality, at least for those with billions in their bank accounts. (Mr. Bezos owns The Post.)
12. Wordlemania hit hard. Forget your phone number. The number everyone wanted to share and receive in 2022 was your Wordle s-c-o-r-e. The game where you guess the five-letter word in six tries technically launched last year, but it reached peak saturation this year. Google said it was its top trending global search term of 2022. While the New York Times acquired the game in January, even Post staffers are willing to admit we’re hooked, too.
13. A record number of Americans had health insurance. Only 8 percent of Americans lacked health insurance in early 2022. That’s a record low, according to government data. There were especially big gains in health coverage in communities of color. What drove this? Americans were eager for health-care access in the pandemic, and they were aided by extra funds from the American Rescue Plan to make plans more affordable and to keep people enrolled in Medicaid. It was also applause-worthy to see the abolishment of “surprise billing” this year and an end to most medical debt appearing on credit reports.
14. More than 4 million people got jobs. When the pandemic hit and much of the global economy shut down overnight, it looked as though the world was headed for a depression. But U.S. government aid kept many households and businesses afloat and ushered in one of the swiftest job rebounds ever, restoring pre-pandemic employment levels by July — in other words, in just 29 months. Despite numerous headwinds, the “you’re hired” notices have kept coming. This year more than 4 million more Americans have found employment. (Note: December data isn’t in yet.)
15. Sequels and prequels reigned. HBO brought us “House of the Dragon.” Prime Video brought us “The Rings of Power.” Disney Plus brought us “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and “Andor.” Marvel gave us “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” James Cameron returned with “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Even Tom Cruise got in on the trend, with “Top Gun: Maverick.” Audiences got to see their favorite characters in new storylines and, often, with more diverse casts. This magical year of prequels and sequels was the Hollywood equivalent of comfort food, and people ate it up.
16. Schools reopened — and stayed open. After covid closures that lasted nearly two years in some places, schools fully embraced a return to in-person learning and activities. Kids mostly welcomed it, even as many of their parents were reluctant to go back to offices. While there are learning losses to make up, especially in higher-poverty areas, it was welcome to see school buses rolling again, and students back in the classroom — and socializing — together for a full school year.
17. The Washington Football Team got a new name. Hello, Washington Commanders! In the end, it wasn’t that difficult to come up with a new name, and D.C.-area fans and players quickly embraced it. The team is even having a pretty good season. Now the only thing dragging it down seems to be its owner. Time to pass the reins.
18. Bipartisanship on guns, same-sex marriage and chips. Even in this polarized era, some bipartisanship still took place in the halls of the Capitol. Noteworthy numbers of Republicans joined Democrats to pass key bills, including the most significant gun-law tightening in decades after the tragic Uvalde, Tex., elementary school massacre, historic legislation protecting same-sex marriage across state lines and major new subsidies for U.S.-made semiconductor chips. We’d like to see more of this in 2023.
19. Deficit reduction made a (very modest) comeback. Total U.S. debt topped $30 trillion (and then $31 trillion) this year for the first time. There’s plenty of blame to go around for how the nation got there. But it was welcome to finally see some effort in Congress to pay for the big programs lawmakers want. The Inflation Reduction Act, although not perfect, took an important first step in addressing climate change while also shrinking the deficit, thanks to modest corporate tax hikes and lower prescription drug prices. The total projected savings? About $240 billion over the next decade.
20. AI is having a moment. This list wasn’t written by artificial intelligence, but it probably could have been. For years, people worried about AI and robots taking over popular jobs such as truck driving. Instead, AI is threatening a lot of “white-collar jobs” since it has gotten really good at languages, speech recognition and even decision-making. AI can now predict diabetes, protect against cyberthreats and even write term papers and articles. The bots are getting better, and that’s something for humans to (mostly) cheer.
21. Crypto got sober. Digital currencies finally got a big reality check, as crypto exchange FTX went belly-up. It turns out that cryptocurrencies are not good hedges against inflation. They do not always make money. And, surprise, they have a lot of the same pitfalls — if not more — than traditional investments. Crypto isn’t going away anytime soon, but it now comes with a big warning sign. Bitcoin lost more than 60 percent of its value this year, but investors now have a better idea of what they are getting into.
22. And the award goes to ... older Americans. As much as people love “30 Under 30” lists, there has been a lot to celebrate lately from Americans (and Canadians) “of a certain age.” Tony Bennett won a Grammy in April at age 95. Angela Alvarez, 95, won best new artist at the Latin Grammys. Erlinda Biondic, at 82, became the oldest woman to complete a 100-mile race (she lives in Canada, but she set her record in New Jersey). And World War II veteran Lester Wright, at 100, set a new 100-meter dash record (26.34 seconds) for centenarians and earned a standing ovation from the crowd. Let them be your new inspirations.” From The Washington Post editorial board
Kathy Whitworth, Record-Holder for U.S. Golf Wins, Dies at 83
Whitworth was a hall of famer who became the first woman’s pro golfer to earn more than $1 million.
“Kathy Whitworth, who joined the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour in the late 1950s when it was a blip on the national sports scene and who went on to win 88 tournaments, a record for both women and men on the United States tours, died on Saturday. She was 83.
Whitworth was at a neighborhood Christmas party in Flower Mound, Texas, where she lived, when she collapsed and died soon after, Christina Lance, an LPGA spokeswoman, said.
Whitworth, who turned pro at 19, was the LPGA Tour’s leading money winner eight times and became the first women’s pro to win more than $1 million in prize money when she finished third in the 1981 Women’s Open, the only major tournament she didn’t win. She earned more than $1.7 million lifetime in an era when purses were modest….
Tiger Woods, with 82 victories on the PGA Tour, is the only active golfer anywhere near Whitworth’s total. Sam Snead, who died in 2002, is also credited with 82 PGA victories, and Mickey Wright won 82 times on the LPGA Tour.
Known especially for her outstanding putting and bunker game and a fine fade shot that kept her in the fairways, Whitworth was a seven-time LPGA Player of the Year and won the Vare Trophy for lowest stroke average in a season seven times.
The Associated Press named Whitworth the Female Athlete of the Year in 1965 and 1966 and she was inducted into the LPGA Tour and World Golf halls of fame.
She won six tournaments considered majors during her career, capturing the Women’s PGA Championship three times, the Titleholders Championship twice and the Western Open once….” Read more at New York Times